Luigi Pelaia (Panania, NSW)
G’day Allan, I have a dual cab 2002 Toyota Hilux with the 3L turbo diesel and 5-speed manual box. I’ve fitted a D-Tronic chip, 3in exhaust K&N air filter, Twine shower, diff breathers, front and rear lockers, 4in lift, 32 in Cooper tyres, an alloy tray, water and air tanks, long-range fuel tank, LED lighting throughout, an ARB bulbar with a Warn XP9.5 winch and a GME radio. I’ve owned it since new and love my truck!
I’ve been 4Wding for about 15 years and have recently come back from Cape York- what an adventure! As for future mods to the truck, I think a ratio change would be on the cards. I would love to see the Victorian High Country and another trip to Fraser Island would get me excited.
We got back from the Cape with no mechanical problems, but 4 weeks after arriving home I go to select 4WD and the front wheels are not being engaged? It goes into low range, but no drive to the front wheels? I’m at a loss to know what’s gone wrong considering we haven’t been off-road since the Cape.
Allan
Luigi, I’ll be brief as I can here, but what you need to do is pop the handbrake on, put the box into neutral and crawl underneath. See if you can turn the front tailshaft. If you can turn the front tailshaft, then all you’ve got to do then is lock the front hubs in and see if you can still turn the front tailshaft. If you can still turn the front tailshaft, then you’ve got problems with the front hubs, or even the axle or something in the diff itself.
From this point, you’ll need to take the front hubs off and see if you can see the axles are moving. It could be just a simple thing like one of the front hubs sticking and not engaging – or it could be something more serious inside, but at least you’ve found it’s the front.
If you find that you can’t turn the tailshaft with the hubs locked in, what you do is undo the front hubs and make sure you can still turn the front tailshaft after that and then select 4WD from inside the cabin. If you can still turn the front tailshaft, then the problem is back inside the transfer case somewhere. Make sure your selector level hasn’t altered or jammed and shifted the linkage that selects 4WD.
Other than that, your next step would be pulling the transfer case out to get it stripped down. Get back to us if you have any problems with the instructions; it may be a bit confusing, but just do it quietly one at a time and I think you’ll find out what the problem is. Best of luck.
